The Languages of Customer Service

Korean entrepreneurs in Los Angeles have long-since learned conversational English. Now they are also learning conversational Spanish as a way to deliver better customer service and to increase sales. From a Wall Street Journal article we learn…

“More than a courtesy, the language exchange is born out of economic necessity. Korean immigrants here often open liquor stores, garment factories and other small businesses that don't necessarily require English language skills to run them. Their employees, by and large, consist of another group of recent immigrants who don't speak English -- mostly Mexicans and Central Americans. The upshot: Many Korean business owners figure it's more urgent to learn Spanish than it is to master English.” [source]

This learning of different languages to improve customer service reminds me of a Starbucks company campfire story...

In the late 1990s, an enterprising Starbucks store manager noticed that more and more deaf customers were frequenting her store. At first, this store used paper notes and awkward hand motions to communicate with these customers. But the store manager wanted to make these deaf customers feel more welcomed in her store so she, and a handful of her staff, began learning sign language. By learning a different language to speak with these deaf customers, this Starbucks store became a hub for the local deaf community. Business increased, customer respect increased, and customer loyalty increased all thanks to learning a different language customers were speaking.

Comments

[Rocket Spanish]

If you can stay pick up and trends or customer niche, you will be ahead of the game. Well done to Starbucks...

[Coveralls]

I agree, the more you can relate to your customers the better your customer retention rate will be. I's kind of surprised that Korean supermarkets are learning spanish aside from english. Good post, keep up the good work.